No End In Sight
Heroes started its fourth chapter, "Fugitives," this week. The episode was written by show creator Tim Kring. The question is can it wipe away the bad smell left from the third chapter...and the second chapter...and the end of the first chapter. It's early yet, but the answer so far is No.
The government is now hunting down all people with abilities. This is a good plot--least it was for X-Men. We'll see if it coalesces into something interesting on Heroes. But first they've got to fix the characters.
Parkman, who had one of the most interesting and versatile of powers--mind-reading and mind-bending--becomes the third character on the show to be given the most boring of powers, the ability to draw the future. Watching someone draw is dull, and then knowing what he draws will happen is worse--I'd rather be surprised. The producers had it right when they killed Mendez in the first season, so why do they keep bringing his talent back?
Peter, probably intended to be the central character, is the most tiresome on the show. No matter what they do with him or his hairstyle, his hallmark is cluelessness. He can always be counted on to make the most annoying choice. His brother Nathan continues his nutty crusade to round people up--I suppose this is necessary for the arc, but he was better when he was a little more corrupt and a little more conflicted.
Worst of all is what they've done to Hiro and Ando. At first Hiro, excited over his new powers and sense of purpose, helped set the show apart. Now he's just a child playing games. And making Ando--the ultimate sidekick--the one with superpowers is an idea that should have been killed in an earlier draft.
Tracy is still as dull as Niki, except her ice-queen power is less interesting. Claire is the exact same character that wasn't working last chapter--the teenager who needs to get in the game. Mohinder has no purpose.
Then there's Sylar. As much as he's caught on, it would have been better if they'd killed him off the first season and moved on.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:02 AM
2 Comments:
I remain really cautious about Heroes (don't want to be too disappointed). But I have to disagree about Sylar - he is now the only chracater that is really worth watching.
At the end of Chap. 3, I thought they were rebooting - killing off or depowering all the Heroes that were too powerful. That could have been a good idea - I nice fresh start, which I think was Kring's original conception (a new set of heroes every season).
But since it was not to be, I think we need Sylar - a combination of the Hulk, Elephant Man, and Hannibal Lector. They have to be careful not to have him swing between good and bad too much, but weren't you rooting for him when Nathan's thugs tried to take him? Yet we hated him when he killed the "lie Detector" and were indiferent when he was torturing Mrs. Petreli. He didn't kill his uncle (though his hand twitched - that's good stuff).
Plus, the rest of the heroes are too friggin stupid to keep the show going. I am disappointed that Peter is back in possession of his absorption power (and they need to kill him this season). There is great potential for Parkman to become the leader of the good guys - with help from his turtle. Hiro with no powers could be interesting - better than him being too stupid to effectively use the strongest abilities of all the Heroes combined.
Sylar was a good threat in the first season. Since then, it's been time to get rid of him and bring on a new villain. Instead, they not only keep Sylar around, but change his character every few episodes.
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