Heroes, 10/16/07
Oct. 16th, 2007 08:00 amIcon by
mhael, thoughts by me.
Peter, Niki, and Hiro's stories are on the back burner this week as the focus shifts a little, giving us a ton of things to deal with.
First, we have Matt, Mohinder, and Molly. Molly's still having nightmares of the 'bad man,' whom she identifies later in the episode as one of the 1st Generation Twelve (including Kaito, Linderman, the Petrelli parents, Charles Devaux, and The Annoying Company Bob Midas guy among others). The one she identifies Matt recognizes as his criminal father, who walked out on his family when he was 13.
Well, the season/volume is called 'Generations,' so now we know where Matt's powers come from. Matt wants to find his missing Dad, and he and Mohinder fight over their various Daddy issues. The resulting Molly search for Elder Parkman ends up with her body in a coma and her psyche trapped by the Bad Man. But, M&M have a lead to find him, in an apartment in Philadelphia. Now, considering how far it is from NYC to Philly, they can get there within hours, so I hope this story continues with them finding Elder Parkman, and not coming up on an empty apartment in a case of Plottus Interruptus.
Also, Matt's working with the incarcerated Angela Petrelli. She knows he can read her mind, and she tells Parkman to back off from the case and let her go to prison (after she lies and confesses to killing Kaito Nakamura). Matt confers with Nathan, who finally gets rid of that birds nest on his chin, about all of this. But, Nathan is an alcoholic to the point where Heidi (his wife) has filed a restraining order from her and his kids. He's also not looking well; way too thin and pale. Is Adrian Pasdar okay, or is this just a bang-up makeup job?
Meanwhile...
Well, the Car thief, Maya, and Alejandro are driving to NYC, and stop before they hit someone in the road. I wish they had kept driving over the guy, and even backed over him a few times to make sure and put him out of our misery, because it's Sylar, again. I was hoping Sylar was still on some desert island away from this season in general, because the usual 'Sylar always kills indiscriminately and gets away with it' thing is back in full force. It was old last season, it's way old this season, and the show is called 'Heroes', not 'Brain-Eating-Remorseless-Serial-Killers-R-Us.'
(Note: Anyone who's trying to say Sylar doesn't actually eat brains? They're full of shit, and making excuses.)
However, Maya and Alejandro (as well as the ill-fated car thief) are taken in by Sylar's alleged charm. Maya even refers to the name he gives, 'Gabriel', as the name of one of the Angels.
For plot convenience, Maya has apparently forgotten that Gabriel is the Angel of Death. Not cool, not cool. Besides, as Angels of Death go? Matt Damon did a better job of it in Dogma and was easier on the eyes, besides.
Over in California, HRG is planning an expedition to Odessa at the Haitian's request. Not Odessa, Texas, but Odessa in the Ukraine. But Claire is outright lying to him and doing a rather piss-poor job of it, but manages to get back into cheerleading as a compromise. Noah tells Claire 'But no boys,' which is Teenager Speak that translates to 'It's expressly forbidden, so I'm going for it.' Noah should know better, really.
So, Claire spends time with West. West continues to be creepy (and obscenely tall, unless Hayden Panettiere is only like 4'7" or something, because the height difference is really apparent in some scenes). But, West is creepy, and the writers are going out of their way to make him look bad. It's really blatant, somewhat manipulative from the viewer's perspective, and you can smell the effort on the part of the writers to demonize the kid. Well, Heroes is a lot like comic books in some ways, so why not this?
And then there's Micah, settled into a post-Katrina New Orleans with Grandma Uhura (said with affection; Nichelle Nichols is love), and his cousins. Damon is a pretty little prick, but it also shows why Micah is cool. He wins Damon over with kindness (tech-manipulating the cable box for free PPV wrestling), instead of hauling off and punching the little shithead into next week, which I still think he should have done. However, not all Micah's cousins are a loss, because his older cousin Monica is cool as all get out.
Monica's working at a burger joint to get to Manager, so she can earn money for a degree so she can get her family out of New Orleans, having lost her mother and probably home in the hurricane. There's an interesting cycle here; as she's turned down for Manager training because of her home situation, which is what she wants to change by the training. Also, she says she feels selfish because she wants her and her family out, while others pray for the community. Wanting to get out of a bad situation is never selfish, especially if Monica's considering the whole family in her plans. She doesn't have to pray for one of the other; I remember no quota on prayers ever being established.
Still, she's smart, hard working, and the breadwinner for the family, and it's done in a way to 'show, not tell.' Also, it turns out she has powers too. The term I've used is 'Photographic Reflexes' which is the power of the Marvel comics villain Taskmaster. It's a really, treally frickin' cool power.
Earlier in the episode, Monica witnesses the 6-1-9 wrestling move by professional Wrestler Rey Mysterio. (Fun fact: the 6-1-9 is named so for Mysterio's city of birth and his hometown, San Diego. 619 is San Diego's area code). At the end of the episode, in a moment of pure awesome, she uses a modified version of this move on a robber heisting the fast food restaurant she works at. It could have been worse: Monica could have done Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bomb, that being the definitive 'Jeff Hardy, are you nuts?!' move.
She's cool, and she has the potential to be dangerous. Which makes me worry she might be Sylar-bait. Which would suck; I'd rather see stories about her.
So, that's it for this week, see you next Monday night.
Oh, and Kristen Bell is on next week. :D
Peter, Niki, and Hiro's stories are on the back burner this week as the focus shifts a little, giving us a ton of things to deal with.
First, we have Matt, Mohinder, and Molly. Molly's still having nightmares of the 'bad man,' whom she identifies later in the episode as one of the 1st Generation Twelve (including Kaito, Linderman, the Petrelli parents, Charles Devaux, and The Annoying Company Bob Midas guy among others). The one she identifies Matt recognizes as his criminal father, who walked out on his family when he was 13.
Well, the season/volume is called 'Generations,' so now we know where Matt's powers come from. Matt wants to find his missing Dad, and he and Mohinder fight over their various Daddy issues. The resulting Molly search for Elder Parkman ends up with her body in a coma and her psyche trapped by the Bad Man. But, M&M have a lead to find him, in an apartment in Philadelphia. Now, considering how far it is from NYC to Philly, they can get there within hours, so I hope this story continues with them finding Elder Parkman, and not coming up on an empty apartment in a case of Plottus Interruptus.
Also, Matt's working with the incarcerated Angela Petrelli. She knows he can read her mind, and she tells Parkman to back off from the case and let her go to prison (after she lies and confesses to killing Kaito Nakamura). Matt confers with Nathan, who finally gets rid of that birds nest on his chin, about all of this. But, Nathan is an alcoholic to the point where Heidi (his wife) has filed a restraining order from her and his kids. He's also not looking well; way too thin and pale. Is Adrian Pasdar okay, or is this just a bang-up makeup job?
Meanwhile...
Well, the Car thief, Maya, and Alejandro are driving to NYC, and stop before they hit someone in the road. I wish they had kept driving over the guy, and even backed over him a few times to make sure and put him out of our misery, because it's Sylar, again. I was hoping Sylar was still on some desert island away from this season in general, because the usual 'Sylar always kills indiscriminately and gets away with it' thing is back in full force. It was old last season, it's way old this season, and the show is called 'Heroes', not 'Brain-Eating-Remorseless-Serial-Killers-R-Us.'
(Note: Anyone who's trying to say Sylar doesn't actually eat brains? They're full of shit, and making excuses.)
However, Maya and Alejandro (as well as the ill-fated car thief) are taken in by Sylar's alleged charm. Maya even refers to the name he gives, 'Gabriel', as the name of one of the Angels.
For plot convenience, Maya has apparently forgotten that Gabriel is the Angel of Death. Not cool, not cool. Besides, as Angels of Death go? Matt Damon did a better job of it in Dogma and was easier on the eyes, besides.
Over in California, HRG is planning an expedition to Odessa at the Haitian's request. Not Odessa, Texas, but Odessa in the Ukraine. But Claire is outright lying to him and doing a rather piss-poor job of it, but manages to get back into cheerleading as a compromise. Noah tells Claire 'But no boys,' which is Teenager Speak that translates to 'It's expressly forbidden, so I'm going for it.' Noah should know better, really.
So, Claire spends time with West. West continues to be creepy (and obscenely tall, unless Hayden Panettiere is only like 4'7" or something, because the height difference is really apparent in some scenes). But, West is creepy, and the writers are going out of their way to make him look bad. It's really blatant, somewhat manipulative from the viewer's perspective, and you can smell the effort on the part of the writers to demonize the kid. Well, Heroes is a lot like comic books in some ways, so why not this?
And then there's Micah, settled into a post-Katrina New Orleans with Grandma Uhura (said with affection; Nichelle Nichols is love), and his cousins. Damon is a pretty little prick, but it also shows why Micah is cool. He wins Damon over with kindness (tech-manipulating the cable box for free PPV wrestling), instead of hauling off and punching the little shithead into next week, which I still think he should have done. However, not all Micah's cousins are a loss, because his older cousin Monica is cool as all get out.
Monica's working at a burger joint to get to Manager, so she can earn money for a degree so she can get her family out of New Orleans, having lost her mother and probably home in the hurricane. There's an interesting cycle here; as she's turned down for Manager training because of her home situation, which is what she wants to change by the training. Also, she says she feels selfish because she wants her and her family out, while others pray for the community. Wanting to get out of a bad situation is never selfish, especially if Monica's considering the whole family in her plans. She doesn't have to pray for one of the other; I remember no quota on prayers ever being established.
Still, she's smart, hard working, and the breadwinner for the family, and it's done in a way to 'show, not tell.' Also, it turns out she has powers too. The term I've used is 'Photographic Reflexes' which is the power of the Marvel comics villain Taskmaster. It's a really, treally frickin' cool power.
Earlier in the episode, Monica witnesses the 6-1-9 wrestling move by professional Wrestler Rey Mysterio. (Fun fact: the 6-1-9 is named so for Mysterio's city of birth and his hometown, San Diego. 619 is San Diego's area code). At the end of the episode, in a moment of pure awesome, she uses a modified version of this move on a robber heisting the fast food restaurant she works at. It could have been worse: Monica could have done Jeff Hardy's Swanton Bomb, that being the definitive 'Jeff Hardy, are you nuts?!' move.
She's cool, and she has the potential to be dangerous. Which makes me worry she might be Sylar-bait. Which would suck; I'd rather see stories about her.
So, that's it for this week, see you next Monday night.
Oh, and Kristen Bell is on next week. :D
no subject
Date: 2007-10-16 03:42 pm (UTC)Liking Monica a lot.
Liking that we now know who the Mysterious Guy Worse Than Syler is, now.
I still don't trust West. I'd like to, but I can't.
I'm wondering what powers Nathan's kids have :)