heroes are heroes are heroes
It's unpredictable, what will and won't work for me in Heroes. Some things are cheesy but I love them anyway, some things make me cringe the whole time. Overall, I was quite happy with the finale. But while there was a lot of good, there was also some annoying.
The good:
1. Brotherly declaration of love. On screen. Nathan having a change of heart and coming to help Peter was inevitable, I believe, but wow, they actually had them straight-out say "I love you." And somehow, the Petrellis convince me of everything. I love Peter and Nathan so much, I will be incredibly sad if they are actually gone. Not that I think they are (damnit), but if they were... well, let's just say there would be an unprecedented level of tantrum-throwing.
2. Speaking of Petrellis, Claire didn't annoy me almost at all this episode. I loved her scenes with HRG, I respected her willingness to shoot Peter, and I thought her distrust of Nathan and Mama Petrelli -- and her efforts toward convincing Nathan -- worked very well.
3. HRG has a first name! Awesome! I liked him with Peter immensely, he was great with Claire, the scene with him and Mohinder moving the body was terrific... Really, I just love him to pieces.
4. I love Sylar to pieces too, if not quite as much in this ep as in some of the earlier ones. But I did like his possible-heroism near the end, and am psyched that we'll be seeing him again (because god, is Zachary Quinto ever insanely hot), even though it makes no sense whatsoever that no one took the time to make sure he was actually dead and dispose of the body.
5. Hiro and Ando, how are you so adorable without being even a little bit cloying? *swoon*
6. I liked Mr. Nakamura's gesture of handing over the sword in acknowledgement of Hiro's determination, too.
7. So Niki has never been one of my favorite characters, but damn if it wasn't satisfying to see her finally come into her own. Jessica encouraging her in the broken mirror and her finding the strength inside her to defeat Candice kicked ass. I also really appreciated that she and DL reaffirmed their love for each other and determination to be together. I also thought it was lovely that Niki had her arm around Molly at the end.
8. Molly and Micah were perhaps the cutest example ever of automatic chemistry between Heroes meeting for the first time. Hee!
The annoying:
1. "All you need is love." No one should ever say that line without then singing the Beatles song. Besides, it's one of those things that's so cliche and obvious, it's almost certainly better shown and not stated. If there's one real flaw to Heroes (besides the occasional in-game stupid-ray), it's that sometimes they insist on intoning the obvious in a ponderous voice.
2. "Don't die, you're my hero," falls into this category too. I like the actress playing Molly, mostly, but that was just too piercingly precious. I actually like the connection between her and Parkman, but man, that was just too much.
3. Unsurprisingly, Mohinder's voiceover also falls under this category, at least whenever I actually notice the words. Mostly I've taken to just appreciating the prettiness of his accent and letting the words wash over me without parsing them. I think it's probably better that way.
4. The one character thing that I'm not incredibly happy about is the obvious evilness of Mama Petrelli. I really preferred her as morally ambiguous and I had sort of hoped they'd go back to that, but ah well. And WTF is her power? I also wonder if Simone actually did have a power, too. That whole flashback was admittedly interesting.
5. Speaking of in-game stupid-rays, I already mentioned the Sylar getting away thing, but there's also the question of why everyone was so quick to opt for the Nathan solution rather than the Claire solution. It doesn't seem obviously better to me. Claire shoots Peter in the brainstem, Peter dies, or at least is as if dead until the bullet is removed (and why not just give her something to stick into the brainstem to be pulled out later rather than a gun that seems less predictable?), but everyone else lives. Nathan grabs Peter and flies with him -- if they're still together flying when Peter explodes, Nathan probably dies, maybe Peter lives? It makes no sense for Peter to go along with this plan, as I'm sure he's rather he die himself than Nathan. Now, if Nathan can somehow drop Peter somewhere up very high and then fly away so quickly that he's not killed by the blast, then perhaps everyone can live. Though it seems a bit strange, given the Nathan-sacrificing-himself (possibly as penance for almost letting it happen) vibe we get at the end there. But I have to hope that's what happens, because I really don't want to face the idea of a Heroes world without Nathan and Peter. Hiro needs to come back and find out that Nathan wasn't a villian after all! It's also unclear why Peter doesn't just fly himself out of range, but perhaps that can be answered simply enough by saying that he was having trouble controlling powers in that moment, so getting any of them to do what he wants would be impossible. It's also unclear if he can use more than one at once (now, or ever), though we do see Sylar both using both precog and telekinesis at once, so it suggests that he might have the potential to, anyway.
It is comforting that Adrian Pasdar and Milo are both signed on for next year, though I'm a little afraid that one or both of them is actually dead and the actors are actually portaying Sylar taking on one of their forms or something, if he manages to get to Candice...
I really wonder how much of the organization is left.
And I'm looking forward to next year, with Hiro starting in Tokugawa Japan. Yatta! \o/
The good:
1. Brotherly declaration of love. On screen. Nathan having a change of heart and coming to help Peter was inevitable, I believe, but wow, they actually had them straight-out say "I love you." And somehow, the Petrellis convince me of everything. I love Peter and Nathan so much, I will be incredibly sad if they are actually gone. Not that I think they are (damnit), but if they were... well, let's just say there would be an unprecedented level of tantrum-throwing.
2. Speaking of Petrellis, Claire didn't annoy me almost at all this episode. I loved her scenes with HRG, I respected her willingness to shoot Peter, and I thought her distrust of Nathan and Mama Petrelli -- and her efforts toward convincing Nathan -- worked very well.
3. HRG has a first name! Awesome! I liked him with Peter immensely, he was great with Claire, the scene with him and Mohinder moving the body was terrific... Really, I just love him to pieces.
4. I love Sylar to pieces too, if not quite as much in this ep as in some of the earlier ones. But I did like his possible-heroism near the end, and am psyched that we'll be seeing him again (because god, is Zachary Quinto ever insanely hot), even though it makes no sense whatsoever that no one took the time to make sure he was actually dead and dispose of the body.
5. Hiro and Ando, how are you so adorable without being even a little bit cloying? *swoon*
6. I liked Mr. Nakamura's gesture of handing over the sword in acknowledgement of Hiro's determination, too.
7. So Niki has never been one of my favorite characters, but damn if it wasn't satisfying to see her finally come into her own. Jessica encouraging her in the broken mirror and her finding the strength inside her to defeat Candice kicked ass. I also really appreciated that she and DL reaffirmed their love for each other and determination to be together. I also thought it was lovely that Niki had her arm around Molly at the end.
8. Molly and Micah were perhaps the cutest example ever of automatic chemistry between Heroes meeting for the first time. Hee!
The annoying:
1. "All you need is love." No one should ever say that line without then singing the Beatles song. Besides, it's one of those things that's so cliche and obvious, it's almost certainly better shown and not stated. If there's one real flaw to Heroes (besides the occasional in-game stupid-ray), it's that sometimes they insist on intoning the obvious in a ponderous voice.
2. "Don't die, you're my hero," falls into this category too. I like the actress playing Molly, mostly, but that was just too piercingly precious. I actually like the connection between her and Parkman, but man, that was just too much.
3. Unsurprisingly, Mohinder's voiceover also falls under this category, at least whenever I actually notice the words. Mostly I've taken to just appreciating the prettiness of his accent and letting the words wash over me without parsing them. I think it's probably better that way.
4. The one character thing that I'm not incredibly happy about is the obvious evilness of Mama Petrelli. I really preferred her as morally ambiguous and I had sort of hoped they'd go back to that, but ah well. And WTF is her power? I also wonder if Simone actually did have a power, too. That whole flashback was admittedly interesting.
5. Speaking of in-game stupid-rays, I already mentioned the Sylar getting away thing, but there's also the question of why everyone was so quick to opt for the Nathan solution rather than the Claire solution. It doesn't seem obviously better to me. Claire shoots Peter in the brainstem, Peter dies, or at least is as if dead until the bullet is removed (and why not just give her something to stick into the brainstem to be pulled out later rather than a gun that seems less predictable?), but everyone else lives. Nathan grabs Peter and flies with him -- if they're still together flying when Peter explodes, Nathan probably dies, maybe Peter lives? It makes no sense for Peter to go along with this plan, as I'm sure he's rather he die himself than Nathan. Now, if Nathan can somehow drop Peter somewhere up very high and then fly away so quickly that he's not killed by the blast, then perhaps everyone can live. Though it seems a bit strange, given the Nathan-sacrificing-himself (possibly as penance for almost letting it happen) vibe we get at the end there. But I have to hope that's what happens, because I really don't want to face the idea of a Heroes world without Nathan and Peter. Hiro needs to come back and find out that Nathan wasn't a villian after all! It's also unclear why Peter doesn't just fly himself out of range, but perhaps that can be answered simply enough by saying that he was having trouble controlling powers in that moment, so getting any of them to do what he wants would be impossible. It's also unclear if he can use more than one at once (now, or ever), though we do see Sylar both using both precog and telekinesis at once, so it suggests that he might have the potential to, anyway.
It is comforting that Adrian Pasdar and Milo are both signed on for next year, though I'm a little afraid that one or both of them is actually dead and the actors are actually portaying Sylar taking on one of their forms or something, if he manages to get to Candice...
I really wonder how much of the organization is left.
And I'm looking forward to next year, with Hiro starting in Tokugawa Japan. Yatta! \o/