Heroes #20: Cold Snap/Season 3/2009

[wolff96]

First off, I don't think Ice-Woman is dead. (At this point, i can't be bothered to keep all of Ali Larter's characters seperate anymore. ) I think her power will eventually be shown to be some kind of limited control of *water* not heat directly. So when she's in contact with someone, she can alter the state of the water in their body. When she's in a flooding parking garage, she can propogate the change through all the water she contacts. And when she turns herself completely to ice, she can reform after it all melts into the (really convenient) storm drain. Although I have to say? Ew. Reforming in a sewer. We'll see if I'm right.

Second, I think the writers have real trouble with plotting and times for "travel powers". Daphne's super-speed and Hiro's teleporting are both rough for someone trying to make a semi-realistic show. After all, the instant they know something is up, Hiro and Daphne can be right there to help -- IMMEDIATELY. Flight takes time. And even if Hiro can time-stop, he still can't do anything but walk around to reach a location.

I think Daphne's death has nothing to do with her character and *everything* to do with her power being tough for the writers to use effectively. Look at how much LESS of a moron Peter has been lately, when he no longer has his huge suite of "I win" powers.

And on a really shallow note -- the actress playing Matt's wife has either lost a LOT of weight since her last appearance or that business suit she was wearing did wonders for her. She looked a bit pudgy before, without being unattractive (physically -- her personality is another matter) but she looked GOOD in this episode.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

And on a really shallow note -- the actress playing Matt's wife has either lost a LOT of weight since her last appearance or that business suit she was wearing did wonders for her. She looked a bit pudgy before, without being unattractive (physically -- her personality is another matter) but she looked GOOD in this episode.

Its just losing all the pregnancy weight.

 

[Merkuri]

(Spoilers ho... not that I think anyone has gotten this far in the thread without already having this stuff spoiled for them.)

Micah as Rebel actually surprised me because I thought they had written him out of the show in an effort to simplify things. It completely fit and I was happy to see it (I always liked Micah... back when I was young and a fan of X-Men I made up my own mutant with powers almost exactly like Micah's), but I hadn't expected to see Micah again as an active character. I was always evaluating the other characters to see which one could be Rebel but didn't think they'd go as far as to make Rebel someone who was completely off-screen for all of the season (or "volume"? is that what they call it? I forget).

Totally not buying Tracy's death. The wink was really too obvious. I think that may have been meant for Noah to say, "Not dead yet!" She was talking earlier about having better control of her powers, too. She had obviously changed into something different than flesh-and-blood and I doubt a simple bullet would have killed her in that form. I think she did it on purpose, realizing the only way she could get out of there was if they all thought she was dead.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Second, I think the writers have real trouble with plotting and times for "travel powers". Daphne's super-speed and Hiro's teleporting are both rough for someone trying to make a semi-realistic show. After all, the instant they know something is up, Hiro and Daphne can be right there to help -- IMMEDIATELY. Flight takes time. And even if Hiro can time-stop, he still can't do anything but walk around to reach a location.

Without putting too fine a point on it, this is the reason that I have essentially forbidden non- site or ritual specific Teleportation in my RPG campaigns for the past 20 years or so.

Teleportation is a dual edged sword. It makes getting to the action quick. That's the good part.

The problem is that it takes away the "Hero's quest" and "The Journey + obstacles" out of the equation. They can be added in of course - but it makes it far more difficult. It can be done - but it's a helluva lot more work.

In the end, in my opinion, unrestricted at-will teleportation causes far more problems than it solves.

The fact that the writers on the show were dismissive of these problems that were certain to arise early on in the show's development goes to show us that they were "rookie DMs". Not surprising, but the show has paid a heavy price for that lack of foresight and experience.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Totally not buying Tracy's death. The wink was really too obvious. I think that may have been meant for Noah to say, "Not dead yet!" She was talking earlier about having better control of her powers, too. She had obviously changed into something different than flesh-and-blood and I doubt a simple bullet would have killed her in that form. I think she did it on purpose, realizing the only way she could get out of there was if they all thought she was dead.

That may be; and of course, it may not.

I think that in the finest tradition of the wise comic book writers, they have chosen the path of "obscure death".

If there is a reason to bring Ali Larter as Tracy back in to the show - they kept their options open.

The fact that Tracy Strauss might be a character they wanted to abandon was always clear from the start of the season. We still have a third triplet/clone to explore and keep alive the essence of the discovery story - which is usually the most engaging part of the Superhero's tale.

I think we are more likely to go with that aspect of Ali Larter's incarnations on Heroes than to return to Tracy right away.

But I agree with the thrust of your post: the writers have wisely left themselves an out.

 

[Dire Bare]

That may be; and of course, it may not.

I think that in the finest tradition of the wise comic book writers, they have chosen the path of "obscure death".

If there is a reason to bring Ali Larter as Tracy back in to the show - they kept their options open.

The fact that Tracy Strauss might be a character they wanted to abandon was always clear from the start of the season. We still have a third triplet/clone to explore and keep alive the essence of the discovery story - which is usually the most engaging part of the Superhero's tale.

I think we are more likely to go with that aspect of Ali Larter's incarnations on Heroes than to return to Tracy right away.

But I agree with the thrust of your post: the writers have wisely left themselves an out.

The returning writer (forgot his name) has a brief interview up on SciFi's Wire newsfeed. He says that Tracy's "wink" was supposed to be a "blink" with a tear rolling down her face, but there was a screwup in communication with the effects people.

He also says that Tracy will be back at somepoint and has been greatly affected by learning that the Rebel she was about to betray was Micah. And that, at least while he's writing, we won't be seeing the third super-powered twin anytime soon.