Heroes #13:Duels/Dec.2008

[Dire Bare]

Matt gives the techno-babble explanation about Daphne being able to run backwards through time. The problem with this is that, back in the first season, Matt was introduced as being a nice guy, but not very smart. He has failed the exams to become detective on several occasions, and he can't read. He was the wrong person to give that explanation - it should have come from Ando. (This, unfortunately, gives Matt nothing to do in that scene but take up space, but that's better than breaking his character like this.)

I'd have to rewatch Season 1, but I'm pretty sure Matt was never portrayed as "not too bright" but rather he is dyslexic . . . which does not equate to stupidity, but it does make it harder to succeed in school and on tests of all sorts, and dyslexics often grow up feeling stupid and not too bright. Besides, if Matt was any sort of dork growing up, it's perfectly reasonable for him to perk up and pay attention to nerdy stuff like relativity and the theoretical possiblity of time travel. And he didn't give a "technobabble" explanation of it, he just mentioned he heard it's possible in school.

Finally, there's the end of the Sylar arc, for the moment at least. Leaving aside the annoyance that he still isn't dead, when he should have died at the end of the first season, there's the problem that Claire snuck up on him. The problem here? Sylar has had super-hearing for quite some time. The writers conveniently forgot this (for the second time this season). They might even have gotten away with it, had the plague in season 2 acted as a reset for Sylar's ability, but it didn't - he retained the telekinesis he picked up as his first supplemental power.

Sylar was a bit distracted with the woman he wants to be his mom. Claire could have rolled into the room in a tank and surprised him.

 

[Arnwyn]

Well... if nothing else, I thought the very end was pretty good (and no, not just because it was ending, haha!).

AFAIC, I hope everything from Vol 4 on just 'forgets' what happened during Season 3. If I never hear about that idiot future with the big black thing (WeverTF that was) again it'll be a good thing. (Yeah, I doubt that it'll happen, but I'll still hope.)

The problem with this is that, back in the first season, Matt was introduced as being a nice guy, but not very smart. He has failed the exams to become detective on several occasions, and he can't read.

I thought he was supposed to be reasonably smart, just dyslexic.

 

[rowport]

- Daphne goes and gets the formula to power-up Ando, and picks up one dose. Because obviously they only need one dose - it's not like there's anyone else they know who could benefit from getting his powers back.

(Besides, this show needs some 'normal' characters in principle roles to act as contrasts to the heroes. HRG, Ando and Mohinder, in particular, should never be given powers. That 2 out of 3 now have is a very bad thing.)
...
- And then there's poor Hiro. I can forgive them leaving him de-powered, although it makes me not want to watch any more. What is particularly annoying, though, is that he's faced with his father, one of the few people who actually would understand the truth, and his father is giving him an opportunity to explain who he is and why he's trying to steal the formula... so he doesn't.

A few thoughts:
1. Does anybody recall (or care enough to check) what the special effect looked like in the future where Ando "attacked" Hiro? I wonder if what looked like him attacking was in fact his "jumpstarting" Hiro's powers back in action.
2. I am actually fine with Ando and Hiro trading the power/sidekick roles. Both actors are really solid, with good chemistry between them. While the storyline to get there is rather thin the outcome is OK with me. It certainly would be a "beefier" role than acting like you are ten years old for three or four episodes...!
3. I do agree that keeping "normals" in the mix is really important for character development. Frankly, I wish there was no reference to "artificial" powers at all (although I realize that is now a crucial plot point for lots of stuff on the show).

 

[Merkuri]

1. Does anybody recall (or care enough to check) what the special effect looked like in the future where Ando "attacked" Hiro? I wonder if what looked like him attacking was in fact his "jumpstarting" Hiro's powers back in action.

I don't remember what the effect looked like, but they were definitely fighting. I seem to recall that one of them had the formula and the other one wanted to take it. There was no chance it was a power-up from what I remember.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Yes, Ando was hitting Hiro with his "red lightning power-up". He then took the formula. No, it is obvious Ando was not trying to hurt Hiro. He seemed exasperated by Hiro's resistance to handing over the formula.

That does not mean that And owas trying to power up Hiro. I think Ando knows that a quick power up to the non-suspecting can overwhelm them.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Problem is how can you prove he could fly when his having powers was not genetic? The only way they could do it would be to drop him from a plane (or building) and see what happens.

This assumest that there are zero changes to a person's physical biology outside of the 'super power'.

Which would mean anyone who was given the old shots would be able to pass it no? We know of at least two others still out there (the living two of the tripplets.)

 

[Felon]

- Matt gives the techno-babble explanation about Daphne being able to run backwards through time. The problem with this is that, back in the first season, Matt was introduced as being a nice guy, but not very smart. He has failed the exams to become detective on several occasions, and he can't read. He was the wrong person to give that explanation - it should have come from Ando. (This, unfortunately, gives Matt nothing to do in that scene but take up space, but that's better than breaking his character like this.)

"He can't read"? I doubt Matt got as far as he did being completely illiterate. He's got some dyslexia. At any rate, I doubt that the detective exams covered the theory of relativity. Knowing a few science facts isn't exactly recasting the character as an egghead. Non-issue here.

- Finally, there's the end of the Sylar arc, for the moment at least. Leaving aside the annoyance that he still isn't dead, when he should have died at the end of the first season, there's the problem that Claire snuck up on him. The problem here? Sylar has had super-hearing for quite some time. The writers conveniently forgot this (for the second time this season). They might even have gotten away with it, had the plague in season 2 acted as a reset for Sylar's ability, but it didn't - he retained the telekinesis he picked up as his first supplemental power.

Yeah, it reminds me of the Highlander TV series, where McLeod should've become the most awesome warrior in the world (not to mention a master of pretty much every skill) within a few seasons of chopping off one or more heads per episode, but instead he was unchanging. Yet people forgave and the show endured, what, eight repetitive seasons?

The only way for them to explain this is to come out and say that not all of Sylar's powers "stick". Sometimes he reads a brain, keeps the power for a little while, then eventually his ability to use the power atrophies as his hunger drives him to keep grabbing more and more powers. He either loses the understanding (like most people forget what they learned in high-school French class), or he has a physical buffer like the X-Men's Mimic.

This would explain all of the many, many powers he's acquired and the very few he's actually hung on to, just like he'll soon forget to be a lie detector.

 

[delericho]

I thought he was supposed to be reasonably smart, just dyslexic.

You (and Dire Bare) might well be right.

 

[satori01]

AFAIC, I hope everything from Vol 4 on just 'forgets' what happened during Season 3.

Funny that is what people said this season about Season 2. So if we forget Season 2 and Season 3, we are left with 1 good season out of 3....methinks if we Forget another season, show is dead.

I really did not like this episode. It felt flat. It highlighted what are to me the three problems of the show:

1) inconsistent Characterzation and execution. I loved Nathan in Season 1 but it seems clear to me he should have died in the Peter blast. Ambitious, intelligent, some what self centered, the chosen boy by his patrician family, and very much trying to make his own name, and loving of his brother.

Season 2 he was a whinny meatloaf, and now he resents Peter. Brother vs Brother is a good idea, but the character execution has been horr-i-ble.

Surresh is so laugh able it is a joke. Good thing about this season is we learned why Adam was locked in a cell.....apparently super healing makes you super annoying.....Claire has to go. The show has demonstrated the hardway that "Defensive "powers Healing, Flight....just are not that useful.

2) The scope and progression of the powers moves at the speed of plot. One of the things I liked about Season 2 is we saw that powers and their applications improved w/ experimentation. Matt became more than a mind reader, but also able to implant thoughts. At the early part one had to wonder, was their a limited set of powers, with different expressions being the result of different skill level....or not having learned that application. Alas no.....w/ the show in constant "save our ass, save our jobs" mode...any systematic explanation is gone....which the geek in me laments.

3) No plan. The great shows on TV have to have very well thought out multi year plans. Network shows are competing against Basic and Subscription Cable shows which the very best are willing to break the rules and have very tight scripting. Lost and Alias for the first 3 years are Network shows that compare favourably to shows like True Blood, 6 feet under, and The Shield.

It is well publicizied that "regulars" where not intended originally. The show has lost the confindence. It was a great low level adventure, that is now stumbling in the mid levels.

 

[Elodan]

...
The "mutant registration" storyline has been done before, and Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan are better actors than (almost) anyone on Heroes.

I have to say while I enjoyed this episode a lot, this thought crossed my mind as well when I saw the preview of the next chapter. I'll give it an episode or 3 and see where it goes.