Heroes #8: Villains/Nov2008

[Relique du Madde]

All I have to say is . . . dude, not funny. At all.

It's not supposed to be funny, it's supposed to be tragic. Like it or not, I find the writers/producers treatment of minority characters appalling. It's like all of the compelling minorities in the Heroes universe have four fates: Death, or an unhappy ending (for the sake of drama or at least what the writers think could be considered drama), or being rendered into a buffoon or caricature, and/or being tossed aside and forgotten.

You might say this isn't true in the case of Hiro and Ando since they were always comic relief characters, but does Heroes need comic relief? I think not. What about the Haitian? Unfortunately after all the character building he had in Season 1 he was rendered into a plot element this season. Sadly, Mohinder's character was assassinated along time ago and replaced with his idiotic doppelganger.



EDIT: Then again, now that I think about it, I think the main problem with Heroes is that ALMOST EVERY CHARACTER seems to suffer from falling victim to those same "fates" with Lyle, Peter, Claire and now Sylar being the most extreme examples of this.

 

[LightPhoenix]

The only thing I really didn't like was the Elle/Sylar story... blargh. Then again, I've never been happy with the whole "redeeming Sylar" thing, so no surprise there. Even so, I think the storyline just fell flat.

I wasn't too fond that it didn't move the plot forward... but I thought it was a decent episode. I liked how they wove stuff in... except did they really need to show Claire's train scene again? I suppose that's how they're justifying paying her for the episode. Ah well...

Loved Flint's offhand comment about Claude tackling him. I liked the Company a lot more when it was bad guys kidnapping powered people. Maybe that's why I liked Meredith's story.

WTF was with this episode? Well, some of the writers have gotten axed. Maybe they were the ones responsible for the crap.

Yep. Alexander was the one who wrote this episode.

With this episode you can really see the great show the writing staff wasn't actually capable of writing. Hopefully they can keep this going... for a while --at least until ABC cancels the best show currently airing, which is Pushing Daisies, BTW-- and Bryan Fuller goes back to Heroes.

Pushing Daisies is hands down the best show on television right now. It sucks that it will likely get cancelled.

Also, I totally agree with you on the Heroes point. It was a decent/good episode, they just couldn't kick it up into the great range.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I "watched" this episode by having the TV on behind me while I was playing WoW. I did record it and may even sit and watch it through, but I realize how much it speaks to the TRAGIC level of indifference this show has inflicted upon me. I try to continue to like it. I WANT to like it. But they make it so HARD to like it.

They fired a couple of people behind the scenes but producers aren't the problem and never have been. WRITING is the problem. They have till the end of the season for me - and the clock is ticking...

 

[DonTadow]

All i have to say is:

HEROES IS RACIST!

Minorities they killed off:
Mohinder's dad.
Kaito Nakamura.
D-l.
D-l's gang.
Everyone in Maya's home village.
Many Japanese men and women at the hands of Adam Monroe.
Some random Mexican federalies.
Some random Guatemalan boarder patrol agents.
Random Guatemalans who were being taken into Mexico by coyotes.
Alejandro.
Jesse.
African dude who able to see the future but not his own death.


Reoccurring Minorities who have yet to die
Knox.
Mohinder.
Maya.
Hiro .
Ando.
The Haitian (Heroes is so racist they never gave him an actual name).

Minorities who were not compelling enough to remain on the show:
Every character from the New Orleans cast.
Every character from the short lived "Bangladesh" cast.
Every Japanese character from the 16th century.
Hana Grettelman
Hiro's sister (Wasn't she supposed to become CEO of Nakamura industries at the end of Season 1? So then why was the CEO position given to Hiro when his sister had the drive and know-how to run the company?)

Yeah i figured that last year, still like the show, but they don't like minority characters at all. If you are a minority on heroes, except to only be on a season or two or only be a minor character who show sup as a plot device. Oh and Knox, I bet he's like DL's brother or something. Maybe that's how they get micha back into the show so they can kill him too.

 

[Relique du Madde]

They fired a couple of people behind the scenes but producers aren't the problem and never have been. WRITING is the problem. They have till the end of the season for me - and the clock is ticking...

I disagree considering that the many of Heroes' producers were also writers on the show.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Got to say I enjoyed this one but then went into it expecting it just to recap but this a lot of action. True, it did not move the plot but it did link a number of the characters, mostly it was just good because of character interaction.

Rating: 9/10

 

[Krug]

Ho-hum. All I have to say is that Sylar seems to the main focus of everything. I guess it's an improvement over Peter Petrelli..

Ending was needlessly gruesome.

 

[Arnwyn]

A tolerable episode only due to the fact that they invoked the once-great Season 1.

Yeah, I said "once-great"... 'cause it's not anymore. The amount of retconning in this past episode was despicable, and cast a black shadow over how I think about Season 1. The lame retconning of Sylar (once a fantastic, scary villain that really helped make Season 1 changed to "really, I'm good! It's not my fault!") continues to be bashed over our heads by incompetent writers. And the excellent villain/mastermind Linderman from Season 1 is changed into a whiny weenie just to make Pa Petrelli look 'bad'.

Bleh, whatever.

 

[F5]

It occurs to me that this is the second "gimmick" they've used this season to get Maclolm McDowell back as Linderman; first Nathan's "Visions", now this flashback.

Not that I'm complaining...Malcolm McDowell is awesome. Just an observation.

 

[Darth Shoju]

A tolerable episode only due to the fact that they invoked the once-great Season 1.

Yeah, I said "once-great"... 'cause it's not anymore. The amount of retconning in this past episode was despicable, and cast a black shadow over how I think about Season 1. The lame retconning of Sylar (once a fantastic, scary villain that really helped make Season 1 changed to "really, I'm good! It's not my fault!") continues to be bashed over our heads by incompetent writers. And the excellent villain/mastermind Linderman from Season 1 is changed into a whiny weenie just to make Pa Petrelli look 'bad'.

Bleh, whatever.

That sums my feelings up pretty well actually -- though I still think season one stands very well on its own.

I really hate what they're doing to Sylar this season. They made it pretty clear he was a sociopath in season one. Now that he's popular, he has to be redeemed some how.

Ugh.

Though, I do find all the "these characters should die" stuff fairly confusing in how wide-reaching it is. Why do you people watch this show still? How many characters do you actually like? I guess that sounds more harsh than I intend it to, but I'm pretty lost on this point.