Heroes 2x03 'Kindred'
Oct. 20th, 2007 10:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meteordustSeason One of Heroes built up an incredible reserve of goodwill among fans. I think Season Two is going to need every drop of it.
This has to be the worst episode of Heroes I have ever seen. It pains me to write it, but not as much as it pained me to watch it:
* West. Continued to be an obnoxious asshole. I thought I disliked him before. Boy, was I wrong. Every scene he was in this episode made me loathe him more and more. He was completely horrible to Claire, to the point where I was wishing Sylar would drop out of the sky and kill him. I can't remember the last time I despised a character this much. And I can't believe the writers have set him up as a love interest for Claire. Unless he gets an attitude transplant or gets killed off, I am going to be extremely upset.
* Hiro. Did not come back to the future. I was so looking forward to him returning to the main action, and when he changed his mind at the last minute, it was disappointing. (My sister: "If we have to watch him find each of those seven scrolls, I'm going to be very angry.") It's particularly disappointing that he changed his mind because of Yaeko, since (1) she doesn't have half the personality of Charlie or Simone or Heidi or the other women of Season One, and (2) Hiro should know that it would mess up the timelines even more if they got together.
* Peter. Did not open the box. I can't have been the only one yelling at the TV in outrage. When you set up the mystery of the box, and you do a whole episode about the heist that will get you the box, then - when you finally get the box - you had sure as hell better reveal what's *in* it. Even if it was just a trick and the box was empty, *Peter should have opened it*.
* Oh, and finally, to add insult to injury - no Nathan.
Other comments:
* Maya to Alejandro: "Since when are you a car thief?" Since never, apparently, since he was so crap at it. I mean, smashing a car window, in broad daylight, on a busy street? Within view of, as it turned out, a police officer. Sigh.
* Wow, so they did kill DL. Probably the right choice, considering the character wasn't really going anywhere, but kind of unfair to him, since Matt took six bullets to the chest and he managed to survive.
* Sylar! Whose appearance kills one of my big plot theories for the season. Though for a few hopeful moments, I thought he at least had amnesia too. Alas, it was not to be. Which kills off another of my big plot theories for the season. I am sad, because they were awesome, and I would have wanted to watch them much more than what is currently airing.
* Mohinder to Matt: "Why would I need babysitting?" Best line of the episode. Actually, that whole exchange was priceless, especially when it ended with a joyous Molly leaping into Mohinder's arms, and a frustrated Matt giving him this look.
* Poor Ando. Stuck in a cubicle, with no Hiro, and getting yelled at by the boss. Though I guess truthfully he isn't a very good employee, what with playing computer games and downloading porn at work.
* I'm surprised they converted Isaac's old loft into Mohinder's new lab. Personally, I would be very uncomfortable working in a place where the previous owner was brutally murdered. Especially since Sylar knows about the place.
* Yay, Nichelle Nichols! Who looks grand. But I fear she may have signed on for the wrong season of Heroes.
* Was everyone else as skeeved out as I was when Candice started shapeshifting into different women and offering Sylar sexual favours?
* If there is ever a drinking game for Heroes Season Two, there needs to be an entry for every time Peter gets his shirt off. (Note to the writers: I don't care about Peter's sexy new musculature. I just want his personality back.)
My show is in a bad place right now. I want to say at least it can't get any worse, but the thing with digging yourself into a hole? It's always possible to dig deeper.
Stay tuned.
This has to be the worst episode of Heroes I have ever seen. It pains me to write it, but not as much as it pained me to watch it:
* West. Continued to be an obnoxious asshole. I thought I disliked him before. Boy, was I wrong. Every scene he was in this episode made me loathe him more and more. He was completely horrible to Claire, to the point where I was wishing Sylar would drop out of the sky and kill him. I can't remember the last time I despised a character this much. And I can't believe the writers have set him up as a love interest for Claire. Unless he gets an attitude transplant or gets killed off, I am going to be extremely upset.
* Hiro. Did not come back to the future. I was so looking forward to him returning to the main action, and when he changed his mind at the last minute, it was disappointing. (My sister: "If we have to watch him find each of those seven scrolls, I'm going to be very angry.") It's particularly disappointing that he changed his mind because of Yaeko, since (1) she doesn't have half the personality of Charlie or Simone or Heidi or the other women of Season One, and (2) Hiro should know that it would mess up the timelines even more if they got together.
* Peter. Did not open the box. I can't have been the only one yelling at the TV in outrage. When you set up the mystery of the box, and you do a whole episode about the heist that will get you the box, then - when you finally get the box - you had sure as hell better reveal what's *in* it. Even if it was just a trick and the box was empty, *Peter should have opened it*.
* Oh, and finally, to add insult to injury - no Nathan.
Other comments:
* Maya to Alejandro: "Since when are you a car thief?" Since never, apparently, since he was so crap at it. I mean, smashing a car window, in broad daylight, on a busy street? Within view of, as it turned out, a police officer. Sigh.
* Wow, so they did kill DL. Probably the right choice, considering the character wasn't really going anywhere, but kind of unfair to him, since Matt took six bullets to the chest and he managed to survive.
* Sylar! Whose appearance kills one of my big plot theories for the season. Though for a few hopeful moments, I thought he at least had amnesia too. Alas, it was not to be. Which kills off another of my big plot theories for the season. I am sad, because they were awesome, and I would have wanted to watch them much more than what is currently airing.
* Mohinder to Matt: "Why would I need babysitting?" Best line of the episode. Actually, that whole exchange was priceless, especially when it ended with a joyous Molly leaping into Mohinder's arms, and a frustrated Matt giving him this look.
* Poor Ando. Stuck in a cubicle, with no Hiro, and getting yelled at by the boss. Though I guess truthfully he isn't a very good employee, what with playing computer games and downloading porn at work.
* I'm surprised they converted Isaac's old loft into Mohinder's new lab. Personally, I would be very uncomfortable working in a place where the previous owner was brutally murdered. Especially since Sylar knows about the place.
* Yay, Nichelle Nichols! Who looks grand. But I fear she may have signed on for the wrong season of Heroes.
* Was everyone else as skeeved out as I was when Candice started shapeshifting into different women and offering Sylar sexual favours?
* If there is ever a drinking game for Heroes Season Two, there needs to be an entry for every time Peter gets his shirt off. (Note to the writers: I don't care about Peter's sexy new musculature. I just want his personality back.)
My show is in a bad place right now. I want to say at least it can't get any worse, but the thing with digging yourself into a hole? It's always possible to dig deeper.
Stay tuned.
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no subject
Date: 2007-10-20 01:52 pm (UTC)Every scene he was in this episode made me loathe him more and more.
His harrassing Claire (in public, even!), and only revealing his power *after* he'd bullied her into admitting hers, was the truly unforgivable part. He knew they were both "freaks" and she *didn't*. It would have been an order of magnitude better if he'd told her/shown her straight after seeing her toe incident. There are times when it *is* (more or less) appropriate to demand someone actually verbally admit to what they can do (Peter insisting Nathan stop with the denial), and this was not one of them.
This makes me hate West, not the show, but of course that's dependent on them either making West a bad guy, *or* remembering to come back and address his behaviour, if he does wind up on Claire's side.
My continuing faith that West is not there to be some straightforward romantic interest for Claire is partly based on him having no reason to *start* stalking her in the first place, if he didn't already know who she was. While characters do keep coincidentally running in to people they have connections with, I think it's a different thing that this guy at her new school just happens to have been abducted for The Company by Claire's dad.
If I wind up being wrong, I will hate the show for this whole storyline, for sure.
---
The entire Candace bit was the worst part of this episode, for me, cause I've got no justifications for how it might not be so bad as it appeared.
---
With Hiro, I'm back to "maybe it'll turn out better than it looks now". While Hiro running off after Yaeko doesn't look good, I have hope that this way, there's an opportunity for more of the Yaeko and Kensei dodgy aspects to be made better.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 05:42 pm (UTC)I really hope the writers are going to pull something brilliant out of the hat.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-25 12:14 pm (UTC)moronspeople) - that I did find her initial reaction somewhat plausible, but would expect her to come down hard on him a short while later when her emotions settled down a bit. Unfortunately, I have no expectation this will happen. And yeah, it does reflect really badly on their writing for her. (I thought they'd been doing really well so far otherwise, with her trying to be sensible and fit in unobtrusively at the new school, but at the same time not being Super-Mature Teenager who acts in the best possible manner all the time. The confrontation with the cheerleaders, I'm thinking of particularly).Bits I didn't hate
Date: 2007-10-20 02:11 pm (UTC)That argument was excellent. And it was all because Matt cares!
I really liked Hiro writing notes to Ando.
Yay, Nichelle Nichols! Who looks grand
I keep being overwhelmed by how cool the casting is. And then they keep doing *more*!
I'm hoping DL isn't dead. Something about Niki's and Michah's conversation seemed ambiguous. Of course, it might just have been so that the audience didn't know he was dead until Micah ran to the grave.
I can't see any particular reason *why* The Company gave Mohinder Isaac's place, except so that they can re-use sets. And maybe to make it easier for him to rifle through the paintings? Dunno.
there needs to be an entry for every time Peter gets his shirt off
You mentioned cracking up at the gratuituous half-naked torture bits last episode. I cracked up at the fact that, even once he's managed to acquire a shirt, he just randomly takes it off again on occasion.
I just want his personality back
What aspects do you think are not there? I'm quite pleased with Peter being so completely separated from everyone, given how he was so defined by his relationships. I think we might have an opportunity to get right down to who *he is*. (I was sort of hoping he'd become an amnesiac super-villain, and thus be in need of Hiro's "how to be a hero" program by mid-season, but I noticed that, even while claiming he didn't know who he was, he *still* went back for (whatsername? Catriona?) last episode instead of escaping, plus he hung about with her after dispatching the bad guys, for long enough for her brother to come back. I can't decide if this is really noble or really stupid.
I guess there's... not much there, yet? But he's starting from scratch, in a way, and I'm interested to see what he'll figure out about himself.
(I didn't mind him not opening the box. But again, this was probably because I already knew he wouldn't). And I think Heroes is successfully training me to be a lot more patient than I usually am.
I was wondering if Nathan was spending the entire episode shaving?
Re: Bits I didn't hate
Date: 2007-10-21 06:04 pm (UTC)I've seen speculation that DL isn't dead. If he isn't, I hope the writers give him something good to work with, because he really didn't get much before.
I guess what I miss about Peter is his idealism, his empathy, his passion, his determination. Along with Hiro, he was one of the driving forces of Season One, believing in the quest, trying to convince as many people as he could to help him, and going it alone when he could see no other alternative. But right now, he's kind of coasting. It's like, if you take away his memories, and you take away his connections, what's left of him that's interesting? I do like that he went back for Caitlin, but I still miss the old Peter.
I wouldn't mind seeing an amnesiac supervillain storyline for him, but I would want to see it paralleled by an amnesiac superhero storyline for Sylar. Which doesn't look like happening, dammit. I really wanted to see Amnesiac!Sylar this season, followed by Repentant!Sylar. He needs a big redemption arc.
Re: Bits I didn't hate
Date: 2007-10-25 12:36 pm (UTC)If anyone had told me "Just Add Kid" would make turn any storyline into one of my favourites, I would have been... skeptical, to say the least.
It's like, if you take away his memories, and you take away his connections, what's left of him that's interesting?
I think I find all this interesting in a meta-sense. I agree he's really not doing very much. (Hm, although I'm all for different characters taking turns, quest-wise, it might be a bit unfortunate that Hiro is *also* not doing much, in terms of what's currently going on).
I wouldn't mind seeing an amnesiac supervillain storyline for him, but I would want to see it paralleled by an amnesiac superhero storyline for Sylar
That would have been *so* cool! Damn. One of my favourite S1 moments, although it was a *brief* moment, was Sylar declaring that he was the hero and Peter was the villain of the story. And I'm very fond of storylines where people (who think of themselves as good) discover they've actually done dreadful things. Unlike many, I'm unhappy that Sylar's back this season, but if they are going to keep him alive then I do think some attempted redemption is in order. Or *something* different.
no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-10-21 06:09 pm (UTC)