Heroes: The Fall

There’s a reason I don’t discuss worlds I dislike; what good would come from reading me rag on some show, movie or book that I personally dislike? My criticisms may be valid, but I may be purposely overlooking merits or ignoring the same flaws in media that I do enjoy. Sure, it may be a guilty pleasure (emphasis on “may” and “guilty”) but it is ultimately an empty endeavor. But what if I have to tear apart something I like? I think that I waited so long to do a series on Heroes because I didn’t want to do a post in which I complain for a significant amount of time (and I didn’t want to think about Season 2). You may notice that I didn’t add Bryan Fuller’s name as a tag for this post, which is because he had nothing to do with Season 2; he was over at ABC working on Pushing Daisies. I will try to mitigate my criticism with praise and keep this post constructive and entertaining, so here I go.

Season 2, titled “Generations” (originally, only the first half was going to be “Generations”, while the second half was going to be titled “Exodus”, but the writers strike changed all that), started out pretty well. In spite of the addition of two characters with pretty crappy powers (note: I am usually willing to give new characters the benefit of the doubt, because I believe that the writers have reasons for withholding information that may allow us to like the characters more, and that they have a plan for the new characters that needs setting up; hell, I even was willing to give LOST’s Ana-Lucia a chance), the season premiere set up some interesting plotlines. Nathan wasn’t coping with his survivor’s guilt very well, which caused him to either resign from or forcibly removed from Congress. Parkman and Surresh were living together in New York City with Molly Walker, and were working to bring down The Company. Parkman joined the NYPD and tried to get cases relating to The Company’s founders, while Surresh became an inside man and received guidance from Bennett, who had moved to a California town with his family to keep Claire safe. Hiro’s adventure in feudal Japan, where he met his idol (who turns out to be a drunken Englishman played by American David Anders, best known for playing British Sark on Alias), had the potential to be very entertaining. And then we learned that Peter had amnesia, and things went downhill from there.

I think I’ve said before that amnesia is a tough plotline to deal with; often it is done out of convenience for the writers. In this case, it was done to force Peter rediscover who he is, what his powers are, and once again deal with all of his insecurities. And this was one of the season’s biggest problems: repetition of plotlines.

Once again, Bennett and Claire went through a period of mistrust, and there were times when Bennett’s true loyalty was in question. Niki once again deals with her alterna-persona (ok, here’s my big problem with her: her second personality was a real person, her dead sister Jessica, but the one introduced in Season 2 was made up; are these related to her powers, or is she just crazy?). A character was introduced who could fly (just like Nathan, but is entirely unrelated to him… I think) and Kensei, Hiro’s idol, was a healer, like Claire. And Sylar returns to try and steal powers again. I think that the writers changed their plans for Sylar after he became such a popular character. Don’t get me wrong, I loved him and found him to be a compelling and challenging villain, but his story should have ended with the conclusion of “Genesis” (does his survival negate another one of Isaac’s paintings?). There was some difference in his story since he was unable to use his powers this year, but this took away a lot of his appeal. Fortunately, his manipulative personality remained in tact, which made him interesting enough to watch. And I don’t know where they can take the character; I don’t see him ever becoming a hero (then again, Spike eventually became a good guy in the Buffyverse). He looks to be a principle villain in Season 3, but that’s been done before.

Most of the new characters were pretty boring and didn’t get a lot of screentime to make them interesting, but the screentime they were given took away time from the established characters we had grown to love. Nathan was underused this year (BOO!) and Ando, who became a regular this year, did little more than read about Hiro’s adventures training Kensei to be a hero.

This year, the characters also apparently learned how to cure death. The blood of a healing character, like Claire or Kensei, was able to return life to the dead, which eliminates a lot of tension, since characters can be brought back at will (and this trick was used more than once). Furthermore, despite the fact that Niki was in a building that blew up, she is in the trailers for the upcoming season.

But worst of all, the overall plot was slow to build (which could have been offset by great character development) and was very similar to the previous year. The threat wasn’t revealed until midway through the year, and it was discovered when Peter accidentally traveled into the future to discover a disease-ravaged New York (sound familiar?).

Still, things picked up towards the end of the year, and we did get a few new good characters. Kensei proved interesting (and I really hope he returns), but the biggest draw of Season 2 was Elle, played by Veronica Mars’ Kristen Bell. Elle is a Company employee who has electric powers that are not always in control. She is gleefully sadistic, but somewhat stunted, since she was denied a normal childhood due to her uncontrollable powers (and the fact that her father, a Company man, kept her under surveillance to test her abilities). Kristen Bell is always a pleasure to watch, and it was fun watching her indulge in her bad side.

And while the episode-to-episode cliffhanger endings weren’t as good as the first season, the writers sure know how to write a finale. Despite all of the things that I have just complained about, I will be tuning in to watch the Season 3 premiere. The advertising has been good, and the concept of certain heroes going over to the dark side is too much to pass up. Check it out:

However, if my heart is broken again, I may have to call it quits for Heroes.

Up next: Figuring it out…

Heroes: The Good, The Great, and The Mediocre

Heroes is in many ways a televised comic book. The first year had a season-long story that connected all of the characters together, but smaller story arcs were told across three or four episodes, while each episode told a thematic story about the various heroes. These episode-long thematic stories and short arcs serve to build up our characters and reveal their motivations and experiences to us, which ultimately impact how they act in regard to the main story. Speaking of which, this grand story involves a nuclear explosion in New York City. Two characters' abilities set this story in motion; Isaac Mendes paints this bleak future, which allows the New York-based heroes to begin finding ways to stop it, while Hiro Nakamura accidentally traveled to the date of the explosion and experienced it before returning to the present day. This set him and his friend Ando Masahashi on their quest to New York, where Hiro hoped he would fulfill his destiny of becoming a true hero.

For the most part, the structure of the mini-stories feeding into the big one works very well. Everything that happens somehow directs the characters to be in a position to somehow deal with the New York storyline; Matt Parkman's manhunt for Sylar brings him to New York to pursue the killer, while Nathan's dealings with criminal Linderman gives him a new perspective on what it means to be a hero. Claire's search for the truth about herself leads The Company to finding her, forcing Mr. Bennett to relocate her to keep her safe.

Speaking of which, I'd like to bring up the episode "Company Man", which was written by Bryan Fuller. This is an example of Heroes at its best; there are a lot of characters on the show, some of which seemed unnecessary, and most episodes tried to feature each of them. While this worked for the most part, there would be times when we felt like our favorite characters didn't get nearly as much screentime as we would have wished (and this forced their episode storyline to not be as fleshed out as possible). "Company Man" focused only on the Bennett family, Parkman, and Ted Sprague, a radioactive man who is on the run from the US government, and they were all involved in one story. Parkman and Sprague believed that The Company was responsible for their abilities, which were beginning to cause grief for the pair. Mr. Bennett is one of the most compelling characters on the show; his murky morality and secretive past (and present) led to some extremely great conflict both within himself, with his family (notably Claire) and other powered characters, like Parkman and Sprague.

Since the entire episode followed Parkman and Sprague attempting to hold the Bennett family hostage, the story had a more complete feeling than other episodes. This was the dramatic conclusion to the Parkman-and-Sprague-hunting-for-answers mini-arc, which was contained in the entire episode, as opposed to having the conclusion either truncated or spread across two episodes. "Company Man" also contained revelations for the characters (Mrs. Bennett learned about her daughter's powers) as well as for the audience. Bennett's boss was introduced (Eric Roberts rocks), Bennett's history with invisible man Claude (who we'd seen earlier as a sort of Yoda-esque character for Peter) was shown in flashbacks (and Claude was certainly a different man back then), and one of the season's most touching scenes ended the episode. Hopefully, we'll get a few more episodes that only focus on three or four of the characters in the future (SPOILER!!: I really hope that we get a Nathan-centric episode, assuming he pulls through the shooting).

I've mentioned how the immense cast can sometimes be a detriment for episode-by-episode storytelling, and that is the biggest flaw the first season displayed. Taken as a season, this is pretty forgivable, and it is much easier to deal with on DVD, since we can just pop in the next episode. There were a few other problems as well, though. Lack of explanation about certain characters' powers (Nikki) led to some confusion, while sometimes logic was sacrificed for the sake of story (Peter tended to be associated with these things). Finally, while Heroes was excellent at setting stories up, the conclusions weren't always as dramatic and astounding as they could have been; a lot of people complained a lot about the final battle of the season. I agree that it was less than what I was expecting, but it was by no means awful.

Fortunately, the first year of Heroes was a pleasure (if a slightly guilty one). The show proved that ubergeeky superhero stuff can be compelling drama and had the potential to be the next big superhero universe in a world that is dominated by superheroes decades old from two universes.

EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but the world of Heroes is expanded online through an internet comic strip (that was later printed as a trade paperback containing the first bunch of stories; I don't know if this will continue though, since I have not heard anything about a second volume) that is updated every week. This serves to introduce characters (Hana Gittelman, who was in one or two episodes of the show, was barely a character on TV, but was a huge player in the comic stories) and reveal backstory about featured characters (Linderman's past with the father of Nathan and Peter Petrelli was told in these comics). I think that the writers have said that there is more material than airtime for the characters, and this allows them to flesh out their characters more. This is certainly a cool idea, but there are definitely fans who don't read the comics (I stopped after a while because the writing quality was definitely a step down from the televised stuff), and there are certain plot developments revealed in the comics that make the things on TV easier to follow (Hana's motivations and a possible return of Adam Monroe are revealed in the comics).

Up next: And then there was Season 2...

Heroes: Super Men and Women

Bryan Fuller did not create Heroes, but wrote for it during its first season; possibly the best episode of the series, "Company Man", was written by him. As a sci-fi fan, it is easy to see why he was drawn to this series, and while it is sad that he will no longer be contributing to it (he left to do Pushing Daisies), both Daisies and Heroes seem like they will be here for a while (unless the third season is anything like the second).

I'm still surprised that this show has taken off. In addition to the fact that Heroes is basically a televised comic book, I don't remember NBC promoting this show exceptionally well until after it started airing. I may not be remembering this properly, but I remember knowing that this show existed. There were plenty of posters that premiered at Comic-Con '06, but aside from the fact that we knew it would be about "normal people discovering superpowers", there wasn't much other information that I was aware of (though this doesn't prove much; many things have slipped past my radar). Then the pilot aired and things turned around. Despite mixed reviews, the ratings were huge and the first season became the new must-watch show (I started watching with the second episode and immediately went online and watched the series premiere).

Most of the praise given to the show was deserved (strangely, a fair amount of the negative reception was deserved as well, but more on that later). The story of a group of people discovering superpowers that they have trouble controlling and understanding was extremely captivating, and was supplemented by amazing special effects. There was a season-long arc that directed the characters, but the main point of season one (called "Genesis") was to introduce the various "heroes" to us.

It is very hard to find a true lead character, but I guess the closest thing in the first season was Peter Petrelli (though the biggest break-outs were definitely Claire Bennett, Mr. Bennett and Hiro Nakamura). Peter is a hospice nurse (first gripe: in a show that claimed that it followed "normal" people trying to deal with superpowers, Peter's normal life as a nurse disappeared pretty quickly) who only wants to help others. He helps others so that he does not have to focus on his own shortcomings and insecurities, of which he has many. He is a very admirable human being, he is kind and selfless, but he longs to be special. A series of dreams lead him to believe that he can fly, but the truth is so much more incredible... and dangerous. He has the ability to mimic the power of any other superhuman he meets, but his insecurities manifest in his inability to control these powers.

The power of flight was procured from his older brother, Nathan, a New York City Assistant District Attorney running for Congress (and is one of my favorite characters on the show). Nathan and Peter are nearly perfect mirrors for each other. Whereas Peter is open and optimistic, Nathan closes himself off and is often critical of humanity's ability to accept unfamiliar ideas. Peter would never compromise his values for the greater good, while Nathan gets in bed (figuratively) with organized crime; he hopes that the money they give him will help him get elected, which will allow him to do more good than he would be able to do as a private citizen. Both are inherently good people, though Nathan's goodness is much, much murkier than Peter's.

My other top favorite character is Mr. Bennett, a man who begins the series as a very shadowy personality who's agenda is kept a secret (unfortunately, the promotional materials kind of laid the "Mr. Bennett is evil" very thick, which is what led me to deduce where his character was really going to go). Bennett has no powers of his own, but he works for an organization that tracks and documents the actions of powered individuals. His daughter, Claire, is a cheerleader at a Texas high school, who discovers that she is invulnerable to harm. Mr. Bennett (his name is a highly-kept secret throughout the first year, which was done to enhance the mystery around him) works for a company (called The Company) that monitors the heroes. He joined them due to pure motivations (there are dangerous powers and dangerous people out there, like Sylar), but the organization has some shadowy motives. The story of the Bennett family follows Claire as she tries to figure out her origins (she's adopted) in order to understand herself and her powers, while Bennett has to determine how far he is willing to go to keep his job and keep his family safe (and to prove to the audience that he really does love his family).

Other major players include Hiro Nakamura, a Japanese salaryman/drone who discovers that he can manipulate space and time. He can stop time, teleport across distances and travel across time, allowing for the very interesting "Five Years Gone" episode, which takes place five years in the future and shows a darker side of our heroes. Matt Parkman is a telepathic cop who has perpetually been down on his luck. His dyslexia has prevented him from passing the detective exam, and no one ever seems to take him seriously. When his mind reading powers manifest, they are initially uncontrollable and he uses his accidental discoveries give him an edge at crime scenes and in the bedroom. Mohinder Surresh is a sort of anti-Bennett; he is a solo scientist who is also researching the heroes, but his motives are purely benevolent.

Unfortunately, not all of the characters work as well as the aforementioned heroes. Isaac Mendes, an artist who was able to paint the future while high on heroin, was always more of a plot device than a full-fledged character (his mural of New York City being atom-bombed was the impetus for the first season's plot). Unfortunately, his girlfriend Simone was even less of a character. This is sad because both had a lot of potential to be more interesting; Isaac's ability could have allowed him to be a power player at The Company, while Simone had many interesting stories planned for her, only to be abandoned by the writers. Finally, the family of D.L. Hawkins (phasing), Niki Sanders (super strength... sort of) and Micah Sanders (technopathy- think of Mitch Hundred from Ex Machina) never grabbed my attention. The most interesting of this group was D.L., but he wasn't introduced until around the seventh episode, and one of the coolest aspects of his character, a prisoner who could walk through walls, was basically ignored and rarely referenced (in a deleted scene, we see that he was originally going to be introduced in prison and we'd see his breakout). Micah filled the annoying kid role while Nikki's abilities were vague at best and was not written as well as the rest of the cast.

And then there's Sylar. Sylar is the kind of man The Company was designed for; he is unhinged and uses his powers for personal gain and to hurt others. And not only that, he has a mission to hunt down other powered individuals in order to increase his own power; you see, he is another kind of mirror for Peter. Peter acquires the powers of others by accident, and does so harmlessly. He is not looking to increase his power, but he uses his growing strength to try and help people. Sylar, on the other hand, has the ability to acquire other superpowers by devouring the brain of the holder of the power (he may also be part zombie).

Up next: The first season's story and themes...

Heroes: Pandora's Box

The internet really is great. Though this wasn't what I'd intended to do next (webseries are up next), this serves as a great interlude that fits in with the theme. As I said earlier, the alternate ending to the second volume of Heroes was going to be a deciding factor in the worthiness of buying the second season DVD set (I will do a post series on Heroes soon, where I will go in depth into my problems with the second season, but they are pretty much in line with the problems EVERYBODY had with it). Well, thanks to the internet, here it is, and it is awesome:



I don't know how long it will be up, since one YouTube posting of it had the embed feature disabled by request. But this ending not only was great, it had promise for the future. It showed Nathan in a leadership role and reminded us that he used to be a politician. It showed Parkman using his powers in a way that could one day turn to misuse, in order to serve the greater good. His influencing of the police men could also lead to Nathan gaining political power in Odessa (assuming he and the town survives the plague). We get to see the bridge from "Company Man" again, which had one of the series' best scenes. And Rose Petrelli's "Pandora's box" remark has much more meaning here.

Up next: Serialized stories enter a new medium...

Comic-Con: Dr. Horrible, LOST and Heroes Updates

Sorry to interrupt the flow of Christopher Nolan posts, but I stumbled across some very interesting updates from the currently occurring Comic-Con '08. Special thanks goes out to Ain't It Cool News for these stories.

First up is LOST. As much as I love this series (it wasn't #3 for nothing, after all), I have criticized the producers for promising certain things and then not delivering. We have been promised an explanation for the 4-toed statue ever since the middle of Season 3, and despite assurances that it would occur during Season 4, it still hasn't happened. But now, it appears we finally have the beginnings of an explanation. I won't give out details, since not everyone will want to be spoiled (I got a little more information than I would have preferred for both LOST and Heroes), but I will post the links below. Attendees were also treated to a new video with the Chinese DHARMA scientist of the many names. This one may be the most revealing of all, and I would link it here, but it has been removed from YouTube. Lame.

As for Heroes, there are plenty of (invisible) details for the third season that I started to look at, believing them to be merely hints. But I abruptly stopped once I realized that they were much more spoilericious than I thought they'd be. But the news that really caught my eye is the inclusion of a "lost episode" on the Season 2 DVD set. The end of Season 2 was changed due to the writers' strike, and upon learning what the original ending was, I became even more incensed, since it was far superior to what happened (and I'm bitter that one of my favorite characters may have been killed). This episode, which was filmed before the strike (and may or may not be fully produced) took place in the original continuity. This alone may cause me to buy the Season 2 DVD, since I am intrigued, though I think the final decider will be the quality of Season 3... I still can't believe how bad aspects of Season 2 were.

Finally, Joss Whedon has confirmed that there will be more Dr. Horrible coming! Speaking of which, I will probably do a post about the impact of Dr. Horrible on the internet, as well as looking another web series starring Felicia Day.

LOST Article

Heroes Article

Update: Ok, the video seems to be back up, so I will embed a link. Hopefully, it will stay up.



Up next: Na na na na na na Bat-Nolan!

The List: #21 Heroes

#21
Number of Seasons (To Date): 2
Years Active: 2006 - Present
Network: NBC

Heroes, like LOST, took the world by storm. Here was a genre show that by all accounts should have received a modest audience and survived relatively undetected for a few years at best (sort of like Angel), or died a quick and sad death (like Firefly). Instead, Heroes took off, and while it never reached the popularity or acclaim of LOST, it became one of NBC's most bankable new shows.

The show is almost a comic book come to life; the series is broken up into volumes (the first volume makes up the first season, and the second volume was supposed to be the first half of the second season, but due to the writers' strike, the first half of Season 2 became the entire Season 2), which tell complete stories. But there are plenty of smaller stories told across three or four episodes within the volumes. The cast is large and is spread across the world, but the events that occur in one area of world affect characters in other parts of the world.

The first season acted as an origin story for many heroes-to-be, though not all of them had superpowers. But as the season progressed, we learned that a shadowy organization meant to "study" the super-powered individuals has been around for a long time.

There are times when the plotlines are poorly written or repetitive (let's not talk about the second season), but overall, Heroes is an extremely fun show. Most of the characters are very watchable (from a story point of view, I love Mr. Bennett, Nathan Petrelli and Matt Parkman), the plots are usually great to follow, and the Season 1 episode ending cliffhangers are incredible.

Up next: #20...