Heroes #8: Villains/Nov2008

[John Crichton]

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.

I took the entire Elle/Sylar thing as more of a commentary on HRG than anything else. A stark contrast to what we see him become down the line.

Ending was needlessly gruesome.

That's how all seers die. It's in the rulebook.

 

[Tiny Little Raven]

So a friend of mine persuaded me to try watching an episode of Heroes. This (Villains) was the episode I saw.

Now please correct me if I am wong, but the father figure of that family is the head of the 'Company' and has recruited the power stealing guy and managed to get a few powers for himself. This would explain why he went from paralyzed to being able to walk around and decapitate people.

 

[fba827]

So a friend of mine persuaded me to try watching an episode of Heroes. This (Villains) was the episode I saw.

Now please correct me if I am wong, but the father figure of that family is the head of the 'Company' and has recruited the power stealing guy and managed to get a few powers for himself. This would explain why he went from paralyzed to being able to walk around and decapitate people.

I put this in a spoiler block because i don't recall how much of what i'm about to say came from this episode in question and how much came from the most recent episode ("it's coming") that just aired. So apologies in advance (though I'm not saying anything too revealing, i thought i'd be safer with the spoiler block just in case)

[sblock]
The father guy is a powerstealer himself. He took the power to regenerate/heal from a past associate (that's how he went from paralyzed to walking again), killing the associate in the process.

The father is the head of one "company" (Pinehurst) at this company is where all the "powered people of questionable morals" have joined up.

The mother (his wife who tried to kill him) is the head of the other company (primatech). At this company is where all the powered people of generally good morals have joined up.

A couple powered-people as of yet to officially align themselves to either company.
[/sblock]

 

[Tiny Little Raven]

Thanks for that fba827. That explains a lot.

 

[Felon]

Felon let me ask you these questions:

Is it alright for the writers to kill ethnicities in mass number within the US? If not then why is it alright (and not racist) to kill them in mass numbers within their own home nation when its being done for entertainment value?

Your questions are skewed because they each incorporate your contention that minorities in Heroes are targeted in mass numbers specifically and exclusively. You are using your conclusion as an argument, so the rationalization is circular.

The objective way to phrase a question is like so: "do the writers of Heroes kill off minorities specifically and exclusively?" An objective answer is that lots of white people die in Heroes--too many to even try to list. So, "no".

Are you also asking if it's OK to display the taking of life as entertainment? That's a separate conversation. But as I've also said, minorities aren't minorities in their homeland. If a goon is killed in feudal Japan, it's probably going to be a goon of Asian descent. That's not an anit-Asian agenda. That's just what reasonable people expect.

Beyond those minutemen (who were killed purely for political reasons) where are all the random Americans which Maya killed by using her power? If Maya only learned how to control her power after a two night stay in New York State, then shouldn't there have been more random deaths? After all, you can't take a 1 - 2 week drive from Southern Mexico to New York without stopping for gas, to use the restroom/shower, buy food/eat, etc. So logically there should be more deaths not just those which occurred in Honduras, Mexico and Guatemala.

The objective question here would be "is not showing additional airtime of Maya killing more white people evidence of racism?" The answer is "it's not hard at all to think of other valid reasons, so no it isn't".

In the context of the story, her power only activated when she was under extreme duress. The power doesn't just go off randomly. Once she got past the minutemen--which is an incident that counters your argument handily despite your attempt to sweep it under the rug--she was relatively safe. Beyond the context of the story, it's a pointless waste of time; once we know how dangerous her power is, it's time to move on.

Lasty, is it possible to tell a Samurai story about an immortal legendary warrior without there being any fatalities? Personally, considering that Adam was immortal, I find him defeating his opponents using his wits and not through death to be a more compelling story. Then him just killing other samurai and continually dying then resurrecting until all his enemies were dead.

It is possible to tell a samurai story without fatalities. It's kinda boring--because samurai stories without duels to the death are like westerns without gunfights--but possible. Then again, I don't recall Adam carving out massive carnage anyway.

The more fundamental question here is "is having Japanese people die in a samurai story evidence of racism?" To which the answer is "no". An althernative question is "is setting part of Hiro's story in feudal Japan evidence of racism?" To which the answer is "no".

There is plenty of evidence to counter this notion of a racist agenda--Hiro and Ando's continued prominence, for instance, or most minority characters serving on the side of good--but you seem to keep finding ways to discount the evidence.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Late to the party here, but there is something that puzzles me.

African precog handily evades all Hiro's attempts to capture him because he sees it coming (paints the future) and avoids him.

African precog gets killed by Arthur Petrelli.

a) Why didn't african precog see Arthur Petrelli coming?
b) If he couldn't see Arthur Petrelli coming, why should Arthur be worried about him?

It just seems strange that, having gone to all the bother of showing how good he was at avoiding someone (a time traveller, no less) the writers then just off him for dramatic effect.

If there had been some foreshadowing that he knew of his own death, that would be fine, but this? Didn't make sense to me.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

While it wasn't stated, I figured it was like many other precog legends and tales where the precog can see everything except thier own death.

 

[fba827]

Late to the party here, but there is something that puzzles me.

African precog handily evades all Hiro's attempts to capture him because he sees it coming (paints the future) and avoids him.

African precog gets killed by Arthur Petrelli.

a) Why didn't african precog see Arthur Petrelli coming?
b) If he couldn't see Arthur Petrelli coming, why should Arthur be worried about him?

It just seems strange that, having gone to all the bother of showing how good he was at avoiding someone (a time traveller, no less) the writers then just off him for dramatic effect.

If there had been some foreshadowing that he knew of his own death, that would be fine, but this? Didn't make sense to me.

I could be wrong (as it's been a while since I saw that episode) but I do believe one of the rock pictures does in fact show the african procog dead, with his head on the ground, so (if I am remembering correctly) then that means he did forsee it and paint it at some point.

When Iaasc (the season 1 painter) foresaw his _death_ he accepted it as inevitable and didn't try to escape it, just tried to prepare for it.


Plus I figure the african precog was busy guding Hiro on his spirit walk, and then went outside to deal with Arthur if only to give Hiro more time. (that is the explanation that I put in my own head without any exacting reasoning for it given on screen).

 

[Mark]

Pa Patrelli has skills that Hiro does not.

 

[Elodan]

While it wasn't stated, I figured it was like many other precog legends and tales where the precog can see everything except thier own death.

I thought Isaac Mendes drew his own death back in season 1.